The news

Taking drugs can make you live longer! Or was it just the cycling? That day, April 19, later became memorialized by LSD enthusiasts as “bicycle day.”

Meanwhile:

Stephanie Ward, 24, was killed instantly after being hit by a car - and her four-year-old daughter Samantha Ford lost her desperate fight for life in hospital. Their furious family have now been told that the 18-year-old driver will not be prosecuted by police - six months after the horrifying Halloween night tragedy.

Miss Ward's grief-stricken father, Barry Ward, has told a solicitor to take civil action against the motorist and is set to make an official complaint against police over their handling of the accident.

Whinge, whinge, whinge:

I have been driving for longer than I like to admit, on all kinds of roads and in several different countries, and until now I have never had any trouble. I am a cautious driver, particularly conscious of children in the back and criminally silly cyclists on all sides. A delinquent driver I am not, and I certainly did not deserve to be prosecuted for anything.

Minette Marrin is forced to endure some re-education - though she doesn’t seem to have learned very much, evades explaining what the cause of the road rage incident was, and rather gives herself away by that reference to cyclists.

The world is your oyster? Nearly 190,000 people have complained about being overcharged on their Oyster cards in the past 18 months, figures show today.

Meanwhile

The man knocked down on a pelican crossing by a BMW driven by boxer Amir Khan has died at the age of 57.

Trees are GOOD. Pity that so many in the London Borough of Waltham Forest are either (i) being cut down by the Council (ii) are destroyed by the Council's policy of turning pavements into car parks.

Children who live in streets lined with trees are less likely to develop asthma, researchers have found. Trees may help prevent the condition either by improving air quality in traffic-choked streets or by encouraging children to play outside, US scientists say.

Lollipop rage:

1,400 lollipop-rage incidents were reported to councils in England last year. Dozens of lollipop men and women have required hospital treatment after being hit by cars and others have complained of regular abuse and intimidation. Motorists' offences included driving around a school crossing patrol officer when they were in the road; revving engines or sounding horns while the officer and children were crossing; driving very close to the officer; and swearing and using threatening language.

For generations, lollipop men and women have shepherded schoolchildren safely across roads armed only with their trusty signs. But they are about to undergo a Robocop-style makeover: their signs are to be equipped with cameras in an effort to combat "lollipop rage" by aggressive drivers.

Councillor David Sparks, the chairman of the LGA's transport committee, said: "It's unbelievable that we have to take this action, but the lives of children are at risk from increasing numbers of drivers who are so selfish that they are willing to put lives at risk by refusing to stop for 30 seconds at a school crossing.

On the celebrity front:

My Family star Kris Marshall was on his way home after a night out in Bristol when he was hit by the vehicle near the city's Hippodrome nightclub. The area is known to be an accident black spot, with 25 casualties over the last three years prompting calls for it to be closed to traffic at night.